A machine, such as off-highway trucks, includes at least one pair of driven ground engaging members (for example, wheels) for propulsion, and braking or retardation. A final drive assembly drives each wheel. The final assembly is typically a two stage planetary gear arrangement.
During operation, the two stage planetary gear arrangement may undergo axial and radial movements. Such axial and radial movements may cause tilting misalignment between gears of the two stages. The tilting misalignment may damage gear teeth and cause premature failure of the final drive assembly.
For reference, U.S. Pat. No. 2,963,923 (the '923 patent) discloses an engine accessory drive including a drive shaft and a driven shaft, a planetary gear set including a first element connected to the drive shaft, a second element connected to the driven shaft, and a third element adapted to provide reaction in the gear set for establishing torque transmitting drive between the shafts. The engine accessory drive of the '923 patent also includes a stationary ground member and a resilient means for normally urging the third element into frictional engagement with the ground member with a predetermined force to resist rotation of the third element and thereby provide torque reaction for the gearing. However, the urging of the resilient means may not prevent any undesired axial and radial movements of various components of the gear set during operation.